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Arthur Merriman
| death_date = |birth_place=Manchester, Lancashire, England |death_place=Streatham, London |allegiance= |branch= and Ministry of Supply |serviceyears= |rank=Lieutenant Colonel |unit=Royal Army Ordnance Corps (WWI) Royal Engineers (WWII) |commands= |battles=World War I World War II Bomb disposal * The Blitz |awards= George Cross DFC OBE |laterwork=Government scientist, metallurgist, Deputy Lieutenant of London. }} Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Douglas Merriman, GC, OBE, DFC, FRSE (25 November 1892 – 2 November 1972) was a government scientist with the Ministry of Supply, an officer of the Royal Engineers and a recipient of the George Cross. Biography Merriman was born in Manchester in 1892. During the First World War he served as an officer in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps. He entered France as an acting captain on 3 April 1918. He was decorated with the Legion d'honneur, and relinquished his commission on 25 September 1919. In the 1930s he was a teacher in Wallsend, before becoming Secretary of the Faculty of Architects and Surveyors, in March 1938. They later awarded him an honorary fellowship, shortly before the events for which he was awarded the George Cross. With the outbreak of the Second World War, he returned to ordnance work as a civilian government scientist, defusing German bombs around the United Kingdom, under the cover occupation of an inspector of air raid shelters. In 1940 the Luftwaffe were continually bombing London as part of The Blitz. When a bomb dropped on Regent Street on 11 September 1940, Merriman proceeded to remove most of the explosive from the bomb. When it did detonate, it caused minimal damage and for his actions he was awarded the George Cross on 3 December 1940. The George Cross is the highest award for bravery that can be awarded to civilians in the United Kingdom. On 1 January 1941 he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant and given the acting rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. His substantive rank was increased to Lieutenant with effect 1 January 1942, and later to Major. On 6 January 1944 he was named an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (Military Division) (OBE) for "gallant and distinguished services in the Middle East". He was Scientific Adviser to the Commander-in-Chief Middle East. In 1946 he became Registrar-Secretary of the Institution of Metallurgists, a post he held until 1957. On 12 December 1955 he was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant for the County of London. In 1967 he became Master of the Worshipful Company of Tin Plate Workers. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Surrey in 1969.University of Surrey website, accessed 19 November 2007 He died in 1972. George Cross citation Merriman's George Cross citation appeared in the London Gazette on 3 December 1940: On 27 June 2013 The Daily Telegraph reported that Merriman's George Cross had been put up for auction by his nephew, with an estimate of £60,000. References Further reading * Hissey, Terry - Come if ye Dare - The Civil Defence George Crosses, (2008), Civil Defence Assn (ISBN 978-0-9550153-2-8) Category:British recipients of the George Cross Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire Category:Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom) Category:1892 births Category:1972 deaths Category:People from Manchester Category:Royal Engineers officers Category:Deputy Lieutenants of the County of London Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Category:Bomb disposal personnel